Who needs fancy focus groups or scientific demographic analysis? Not HOT ROD Deluxe, whose editors have always known exactly who you are, where you came from, what you want to see in your magazine, and what you really, really don’t—because you tell us so. Newsstand sales and subscriptions are obvious indicators, but those cold, hard facts aren’t finalized for months after an issue prints. Besides, the success of any issue can be skewed (and screwed) by everything from natural disasters to recessions. Your old-fashioned letters and newfangled emails are far more credible and valuable to the editorial team that bolts this baby together, plus way more timely.

2/30Of all the unintended consequences of NHRA’s 1957-1963 fuel ban, the most visible and technically interesting was the rapid evolution of multimotored Top Eliminator cars. Mickey Thompson (right) took this unique approach to substituting displacement for the forbidden “liquid horsepower.” NHRA’s defending national champion, Jack Chrisman (left), sat behind experimental aluminum Pontiacs undoubtedly left over from the 406-mph Challenger program. Shortly after this disappointing Winternationals appearance, M/T switched to a pair of top-mount 6-71s.

3/30Tin-bender Kenny Ellis’s unique slingshot is illustrative of this period’s minimal mechanical restrictions and the unbridled innovation that resulted. Kenny built and successfully campaigned at least three different three-wheelers over a decade. He’s shown (in firesuit) at the ’63 March Meet. The guy in the white pants sure looks like Jim Tice, who grew his AHRA by running popular classes that rival Wally Parks would not.

Since the magazine’s 2008 rebirth, invaluable correspondence reveals that you were probably born either during World War II, a bit before, or just after. You prefer vintage black-and-white photographs, however flawed, to crisper digital color. You like full-bodied race cars, as long as the bodies aren’t fake and hiding tubular frames. You’d rather read about a rusty survivor with some history than anything built new. You’ll accept street trends and race cars right through 1969, unless they’re muscle cars or floppers. You never get enough unpublished outtakes to features, event coverage, and tech articles that appeared in ancient Petersen publications—or never did make it into print, for reasons ranging from space availability to petty politics.

4/30Before Linda Vaughn became the permanent Miss Hurst Golden Shifter, George Hurst handpicked a parade of beauties to straddle his giant handle. You’d think it’d be impossible to forget a set of teeth like these, but we need help to ID her in a future issue (and will run another, similar shot as your reward).

5/30One 1965 innovation that endures to this day was the accidental invention of exhibition wheelstanders. Both the pioneering Little Red Wagon and, soon after, Hurst’s Hemi Under Glass (pictured at the NHRA Nationals) were designed as real race cars, incorporating midmounted engines to maximize traction. Initial frustration with wheelstanding tendencies turned into lucrative careers for brave Bill Golden and Bill Shrewsberry, respectively.

If the sheer volume of mail can be trusted, your favorite feature to date was the “Year of Eric Rickman” series that founding editor David Freiburger hatched in 2010. In particular, Rick’s drag-racing-related photos from the ’60s generated the greatest numbers of comments, questions, and, yes, corrections. Many readers were further inspired to scan and send ’60s scrapbook snapshots that enhanced subsequent “Scrapbook” sections and, in turn, generated more reader mail and personal photos for HRD to share. Editor Hardin is hoping you’ll respond to this new series with similar enthusiasm.

6/30This comparison of early ’60s slingshots only begins to illustrate the impact of Kent Fuller’s single-hoop chassis, Chuck Jones’ design for the first “’chute-pack” tail section, and the only dragster body that Lujie Lesovsky ever built. Crew chief Rosy Hroscikoski put the pieces together and tuned one of the last competitive Pontiacs in both Top Gas and Top Fuel Eliminators, thereby earning the Shudder Bug’s nickname of “Eighth Wonder of the World.” Ernie Alvarado paid the freight with earnings from his Glendale, California, store, Ernie’s Camera Shop. Tommy Ivo drove first, then Bill Alexander, who recalled how it never went straight unless he cranked the butterfly wheel hard to one side. Wild Bill ran out of luck at San Fernando, totaling the car that most influenced dragster design during the first slingshot era, and to this day in nostalgia racing. (Yeah, we’re fudging the rules a bit by plucking a photo from late 1961 because the other driver looks so goshdarn envious, and we don’t recall seeing this NHR

7/30Traditional sportsman racers were impacted by NHRA’s strict classification of altered-wheelbase cars as altereds, which created culture clashes like this round of C/A class competition between Bob Moody’s coupe and Al Vander Woude’s homebuilt Plymouth.

8/30Looking back, benefitting from 50 years of 20/20 hindsight, the first sign of the first threat to the traditional Kings of the Sport might’ve been Jimmy Nix’s unprecedented defection from fuel dragsters to what the wire-wheel set derisively called “stockers.” Detuned Top Gas Dragster engines didn’t make the three Dodge Chargers much swifter (10.90s at 130-plus) than legal ’64 A/FXers, but lots louder. A nationwide exhibition tour by Jimmy and teammate Jim Johnson inspired independent racers everywhere to start bolting on blowers.

Starting with the upcoming November HRD, we’ll revisit one drag-racing season per issue, 1962 through 1966, in chronological order. This introductory installment hints at the good stuff to come, from ads and unseen action photos to magazine covers and shop scenes. While opinions inevitably vary about exactly when this young sport’s so-called Golden Age started and stopped, we’re going with the five-year span that produced the fastest evolutions of innovation, performance, and popularity. As the final full season of NHRA’s seven-year fuel ban, ’62 seemed like a logical starting point. As the first season for the flip-top Funny Cars that changed everything, for better or worse, ’66 is a natural closing chapter—for now, that is.

Should this six-part series move magazines and generate mail, maybe the editor will consider adding seasons preceding and/or immediately following our Golden Age. Petersen Publishing Co.’s incomparable film archive goes back to 1955, after all, and the late ’60s were awfully wild. Drew Hardin’s contact info appears elsewhere in this issue. You know what to do.